Volvo campaign targets other emissions

Volvo's UK arm has announced a plan to boost the levels of emissions information available to consumers, to help combat the UK's rising problem of poor air quality. The campaign will cover not just Volvo's own models, but the market as a whole.

Volvo has begun lobbying the UK Transport Department and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders about mandating the extension of existing environmental labelling to include a second sticker covering non-CO2 emissions for all new and used cars up to five years old.

The company advocates the incorporation of data already freely available through the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) and sites like www.cleangreencars.co.uk into labels similar to those used by the US Environmental Protection Agency, which give vehicles separate ratings for CO2 and other emissions.

Volvo insists the campaign isn't designed to take public and government eyes off CO2, but to ensure all drivers have easy access to full information about pollutants to make properly informed decisions. Each model will be assigned an automotive air pollutants environmental label designed to sit alongside existing CO2 labels, already mandatory in new and used car showrooms.

Next up comes a phone/PC app putting comprehensive model-by-model air pollutants data at the fingertips of drivers and buyers -- something with the potential to change buyers' minds as they stand in showroom or yard.

The company is also setting up an Emissions Equality Automotive Air Pollution Think Tank to raise industry and consumer awareness over the coming one to two years. Alongside its own people, it has already recruited key members from media, academia and public interest groups for the panel.

The aim is to clarify an issue that remains murky on the matter of tailpipe emissions: that a low CO2 figure does not guarantee all-round cleanliness. Important, the company says, because while CO2 gets all the attention, it's the other emissions -- pollutants like nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and particulates -- that do the damage to air quality and public health.

There's more to this in the UK than here. With that country experiencing some of the world's most alarming asthma figures, the British government's Environmental Audit Committee suggests air pollutants such as those targeted by the campaign will kill 50,000 people prematurely. The country is staring down the barrel of massive EU-imposed fines -- up to £300m -- if it doesn't get going in improving its air quality.

It's not long into the announcement, of course, that one finds the inevitable counterpoint to all this civic duty on Volvo's part in a spot of product promotion.

The company is quick to point out its own products' cleanliness in this respect against cars much smaller. Its hefty V70 estate with a 2.5 litre five-pot petrol engine with manual transmission gives off 201mg/km of non-CO2 nasties, which stacks up rather well against the 484mg/km emanating from Fiat's pint-sized 1.4 litre 500. And the even heftier S80 1.6D DRIVe executive saloon (yes -- an E-Class sized Volvo with a 1.6 oiler -- not available here) generates 636mg/km of the same -- five per cent down on Toyota's Yaris 1.3 diesel (ditto) at 679mg/100km.